Tamaqua Area told to scrap dress code

Parents, students crowd meeting to oppose proposal.

June 22, 2005|By Chris Parker Of The Morning Call

The Tamaqua Area School Board on Tuesday was faced with a host of hot-button issues that included a tax break for a major retailer, a controversial dress code and a budget for the coming year that would increase taxes 5.2 percent.

It also was addressed by a large and mostly angry audience determined to make clear opposition to the proposed dress code, which was read by the board for the first time Tuesday.

The board had yet to act on any of the issues as of late in evening.

Among the speakers was Donald Krell Jr.

Clad in a black Harley Davidson T-shirt, leather vest and black bandanna, Krell said he didn't think much of the dress code, which calls for students to wear navy or tan pants; navy or white shirts; and brown, black or burgundy shoes with matching laces.

Clothes do not make the student, he said.

"It's what their parents teach them. If kids come in here and are disruptive, it's the parents' fault," said Krell, whose daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, graduated from the high school in June and has been accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Another parent, Tracy Perry, presented the school board with a petition signed by 480 people opposing the dress code.

Perry said the district should enforce its present dress code instead of adopting a new one.

Recent Tamaqua graduate Lindsey Croll, clad in an "All-American reject" T-shirt, jeans and flip-flops, said that a strict dress code won't stop students from picking on each other.

"Uniforms won't do anything -- discipline will," she said.

Later in the evening, the school board expected another barrage of strong opinions as it prepared to vote on a tax break for a company that is preparing a site in the former Laneco shopping center in Rush Township for a new Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Zamias Development of Johnstown, Cambria County, has said no deal will occur without some form of tax relief.

The company initially proposed a Tax Increment Financing District, which would have had the school district, township and Schuylkill County float bonds through the county Industrial Development Authority to pay for $1.7 million in highway improvements for a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

The bonds would be repaid over 20 years with taxes Wal-Mart would pay on the property.

But after vehement opposition to the plan, the Schuylkill Economic Development Corp. is proposing an alternative that instead would cut taxes on the land for eight years.

It is this new proposal, called a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program, that the school board expected to vote on Tuesday. The proposal would give Zamias $1.45 million in tax breaks of 40 percent to 80 percent over eight years.

In the first two years, Zamias would get 80 percent off its tax bill, then 70 percent for the next two years, 60 percent for two more years, 50 percent in the seventh year and 40 percent in the final year.

Even with the 80 percent reduction, the first year's tax payment would be $56,800, compared with the $33,000 now paid on it, Frank Zukas, executive director of Schuylkill Economic Development Corp., has said.

County commissioners, who have said they would support the other boards' decision, could vote today.

Also Tuesday, school directors expected to tackle the 2005-06 budget. The proposed spending plan calls for a tax increase of 1.5 mills, or 5.2 percent.

The increase would boost the tax rate from 28.86 mills to 30.36 mills.

That means the owner of a property with an assessed value of $20,000 would pay $607.20 for 2005-06 school tax, up $30 from this year.

The budget also calls for an assessed occupation tax of $225.

Also on the agenda was the hiring of 18 new special education teachers.